The federal government will stop issuing new coal leases on federal lands, mainly in Wyoming and Montana, as the Obama administration reviews coal’s impact on climate change as well as the price that big coal companies are paying America’s taxpayers.

Announced by U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, the move is another blow to Big Coal. Four coal companies have filed for bankruptcy protection, the latest Arch Coal earlier this week. Natural gas has recently passed coal as America’s largest generator of electricity. Coal plants are being converted or phased out from the Tennessee Valley Authority in the East to the Centralia coal plant in Washington.

A coal train passes an oil train after tanker cars derailed in Magnolia in the summer of 2014. Natural gas has passed coal as a generator of America’s electricity.

The “pause” in coal leases brings new questions on viability of two big, controversial coal export terminals proposed in Washington, the Millennium Bulk Terminal project in Longview and the Gateway Pacific project at Cherry Point north of Bellingham.

Coal will be part of the nation’s energy mix despite the moratorium on new leases. “Even as our nation transitions to cleaner energy sources, building on smart policies already underway, we know that coal will continue to be an important source in years ahead,” Jewell told a news conference.

“We haven’t undertaken a comprehensive review of the program in more than 30 years and we have an obligation to current and future generations to ensure the federal coal program delivers a fair return to America’s taxpayers and takes into account its impact on climate change.”

The Obama administration’s move won applause from a billionaire Seattle businessman/philanthropist, and the ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

“Aligning US coal policy with 21st Century is right approach to stem climate change. Good sense step by POTUS (President of the United States),” tweeted Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and owner of the Seattle Seahawks.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., has used a 2014 report by the Government Accountability Office to argue that coal companies are getting too sweet a deal on their leases. About 40 percent of America’s coal comes from public lands, or 450 million tons a year. The government receives more than $1 billion each year, but the GAO suggested taxpayers are owed more to the tune of $200 million.

Sunset for Big Coal? Coal fired power plants are being phased out or converted from the Tennessee Valley Authority to Washington’s Centralia coal plant.

President Obama signaled his climate commitment in this week’s State of the Union speech, declaring: “I’m going to push to change the way we manager our oil and coal resources so that they better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and our planet.”

Industry and its political allies raised a battle cry at the announcement. U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, claimed that Obama is “handing a big win to extreme environmentalists” and added: “The President’s unprecedented war on coal is also a war on the middle class. Further, will we sacrifice one of our country’s most effective global economic advantages as well as one of our greatest security assets?”

A similar fiery reaction was delivered by Bud Clinch, executive director of the Montana Coal Council. “This announcement comes as no surprise from an administration that seems hell bent on forcing the coal industry to come to a screeching halt,” said Clinch. “This is devastating news from Montana. About half the coal we mine is federal coal. The President is trying to stop all coal from being mined.”

He isn’t. Coal reserves already under lease on federal lands are expected to sustain current levels of production for at least two decades.

“During this (new lease moratorium) companies can continue production activities on the large reserves of recoverable coal they have under lease, and we’ll make accommodation in the event of emergency circumstances to ensure this pause will have no material impact on the nation’s ability to meet its power generation needs,” said Secretary Jewell.

Still, Big Coal is hurting.

The Obama administration is using the Clean Air Act to require that coal plants cut their emissions of greenhouse gases. China is closing some of its older coal plants as a response to the enormous air pollution enveloping Beijing and other cities in Northern China. The proposed Millennium and Gateway Pacific export terminals have been targeted at supplying China’s need for coal.

In the Northwest, attention is focused on the aging Colstrip 1 & 2 plants, located about 100 miles east of Billings, Montana. Puget Sound Energy is a major owner of the plants: Colstrip 1 is 40 years old, with Colstrip 2 recently marking its 39th birthday. Its partner, Pennsylvania-based Talen Energy, has written down the market value of its ownership in the plants by 87 percent (or $288 million) in just two years.